Washington--The Federal Communications Commission today amended its rules to require closed
captioning display capability in digital television receivers. This action ensures that closed
captioning services will continue to be available to consumers as the transition from analog to
digital broadcasting progresses.

Closed captioning is an assistive technology that allows persons with hearing disabilities
to access television programming. Captioning displays the audio portion of programming as text
superimposed over the video. Closed captioning information is encoded and transmitted along
with the video signal of television broadcasts. In order to display closed captions, viewers must
use either a set-top decoder or a television receiver with integrated decoder circuitry.

In 1990, Congress passed the Television Decoder Circuitry Act. The Act requires that
television receivers with picture screens 13 inches or larger contain built-in decoder circuitry
designed to display closed captioned television transmissions. The Act also requires the FCC to
ensure that closed captioning services continue to be available to consumers as new technology
is developed. In 1991, the FCC amended its rules to include standards for the display of closed
captioned text on analog television receivers. The development of digital broadcasting requires
that the FCC again update its rules to fulfill its obligations under the Act.

In the Report and Order adopted today, the FCC incorporated sections of industry
standard EIA-708-B, "Digital Television (DTV) Closed Captioning" into its rules. The standard
provides instructions for the encoding, delivery, and display of closed captioning information for
digital television systems. The Commission said that it would require manufacturers to include
compliant DTV closed captioning decoder circuitry in DTV devices by July 1, 2002. Devices
covered under the rules include DTV sets with integrated "widescreen" displays measuring at
least 7.8 inches vertically, DTV sets with conventional displays measuring at least 13 inches
vertically, and stand-alone DTV tuners, whether or not they are marketed with display screens.

The Report and Order contains provisions that will allow viewers to choose and alter the
color, size, and font of their captioning and to choose between multiple streams of captioning,
such as "easy reader" or alternate language captioning. The Commission said that requiring
decoders to be able to respond to these various features is necessary to ensure that closed
captioning will be accessible for the greatest number of persons who are deaf and hard of
hearing.

The Order requires that cable providers and other multichannel video programming
distributors transmit captions in a format that will be understandable to the decoder circuitry in
digital television receivers.

As provided for in the Commission's rules establishing requirements for the closed
captioning of video programming adopted in a 1997 Order, programming prepared or formatted
for display on digital television receivers before the compliance date of the decoder circuitry
rules adopted today is considered "pre-rule" programming. As stated above, this order
establishes the compliance date as July 1, 2002. Therefore, programming prepared or formatted
for display on digital television after that date will be considered new programming. The
existing rules require an increasing amount of captioned new programming over an eight-year
transition period with 100% of all new nonexempt programming required to be captioned by
January 1, 2006.

The Order adopts the requirement of Section 9 of EIA-708, with the following modifications:

Decoders must support the standard, large, and small caption sizes and must allow the
caption provider to choose a size and allow the viewer to choose an alternative size.

Decoders must support the eight fonts listed in EIA-708. Caption providers may specify 1 of
these 8 font styles to be used to write caption text. Decoders must include the ability for
consumers to choose among the eight fonts. The decoder must display the font chosen by the
caption provider unless the viewer chooses a different font.

Decoders must implement the same 8 character background colors as those that Section 9
requires be implemented for character foreground (white, black, red, green, blue, yellow,
magenta and cyan).

Decoders must implement options for altering the appearance of caption character edges.

Decoders must display the color chosen by the caption provider, and must allow viewers to
override the foreground and/or background color chosen by the caption provider and select
alternate colors.

Decoders must be capable of decoding and processing data for the six standard services, but
information from only one service need be displayed at a given time.

Decoders must include an option that permits a viewer to choose a setting that will display
captions as intended by the caption provider (a default). Decoders must also include an
option that allows a viewer's chosen settings to remain until the viewer chooses to alter these
settings, including during periods when the television is turned off.

Cable providers and other multichannel video programming distributors must transmit
captions in a format that will be understandable to this decoder circuitry in digital cable
television sets when transmitting programming to digital television devices.

2. Covered Devices

All digital television receivers with picture screens in the 4:3 aspect ratio measuring at least
13 inches diagonally, digital television receivers with picture screens in the 16:9 aspect ratio
measuring 7.8 inches or larger vertically (this size corresponds to the vertical height of an
analog receiver with a 13 inch diagonal), and all DTV tuners, shipped in interstate commerce
or manufactured in the United States must comply with the minimum decoder requirements
we are adopting here.

The rules apply to DTV tuners whether or not they are marketed with display screens.

Converter boxes used to display digital programming on analog receivers must deliver the
encoded "analog" caption information to the attached analog receiver.

3. Compliance Dates

Manufacturers must begin to include DTV closed caption functionality in DTV devices in
accordance with the rules adopted in the Order by July 1, 2002.

As provided for in the Commission's rules establishing requirements for the closed
captioning of video programming adopted in a 1997 Order, programming prepared or
formatted for display on digital television receivers before the compliance date of the
decoder circuitry rules adopted today is considered "pre-rule" programming. As stated
above, this order establishes that date as July 1, 2002. Therefore, programming prepared or
formatted for display on digital television after that date will be considered new
programming. The existing rules require an increasing amount of captioned new
programming over an eight-year transition period with 100% of all new nonexempt
programming required to be captioned by January 1, 2006.